Tom McClintock on Health Care

2004 former Republican Challenger CA Governor

SB-2 costs jobs-healthcare via personal tax credit instead

There's a much better way to [provide healthcare] and it's not SB-2 which requires businesses to provide health care plans for their employees. The very first impact of that bill is an awful lot of people thrown out of work as businesses pare back
their payrolls to avoid the threshold that triggers that obligation. I do believe that we ought to have a society where everyone has access to health care. I believe we can do that in a much more rational way through a simple tax credit on a sliding
income scale that will bring within the reach of every California family, a health plan of their own choosing and selection that they will control.

If your employer chose your grocery store for you, I guarantee you two things.
It's going to be cheap for the employer and it's going to be very inconvenient for you. And health plans are no different. We've got to bring within the reach of families, again, control over their own health plans.

Source: Recall Debate, Cal. State Univ. at Sacramento
Sep 24, 2003

Could reduce Medi-Cal fraud by $2.5B-but no one interested

McCLINTOCK: I would defend Peter's numbers. I think they are low. The numbers I've seen are $2.5 billion in Medi-Cal fraud and one of the big problems
is there is a lack of interest in stopping it. Going to the unemployment insurance, there is $100 million of fraud that the state knows about. It could stop it simply by verifying employment records. The fraud is rampant and needs to be addressed.

Source: Recall debate in Walnut Creek
Sep 3, 2003

Deteriorating health care is government's fault

The deteriorating quality & scope of health care coverage available to Californians of all ages is largely the result of government actions-all well intentioned-which have driven up prices, reduced availability and devastated families' purchasing power.
California [could allow families] to locate health care options which best meet its own needs. Or, California can continue to indulge in precisely the kind of "solution" which caused the problem in the first place.